Head-To-Head Review: Eagle Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSI) vs. Greene County Bancorp (NASDAQ:GCBC)

Greene County Bancorp (NASDAQ:GCBC) and Eagle Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Greene County Bancorp and Eagle Financial Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Greene County Bancorp	$145.79 million	4.18	$41.02 million	$2.62	13.67
Eagle Financial Services	$87.70 million	2.83	$8.21 million	$3.30	13.91

Greene County Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Eagle Financial Services. Greene County Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eagle Financial Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Greene County Bancorp and Eagle Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Greene County Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00
Eagle Financial Services	0	3	2	1	2.67

Eagle Financial Services has a consensus target price of $43.75, suggesting a potential downside of 4.66%. Given Eagle Financial Services’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Eagle Financial Services is more favorable than Greene County Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Greene County Bancorp and Eagle Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Greene County Bancorp	30.24%	16.67%	1.41%
Eagle Financial Services	14.55%	8.02%	0.82%

Dividends

Greene County Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Eagle Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Greene County Bancorp pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eagle Financial Services pays out 37.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Greene County Bancorp has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years and Eagle Financial Services has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Eagle Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Greene County Bancorp has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eagle Financial Services has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

13.4% of Greene County Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Eagle Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Greene County Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Eagle Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Greene County Bancorp beats Eagle Financial Services on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Greene County Bancorp

Greene County Bancorp, Inc. is the bank holding company for The Bank of Greene County, a community bank founded in 1889 and headquartered in Catskill, New York. The company provides banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, consumer loans and commercial lending. The bank also provides business banking and wealth management services. The company primarily serves New York’s Hudson Valley, with branches across Greene, Columbia, Albany and Ulster counties.

About Eagle Financial Services

Eagle Financial Services, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Berryville, Virginia. It operates through its principal subsidiary, Bank of Clarke County, a community bank that has served customers in Virginia’s Northern Shenandoah Valley since 1881. Bank of Clarke County provides personal and business banking services, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer loans, commercial lending, residential mortgage financing, and online and mobile banking services.